Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1

Check out the other Fantastic Four Volumes and you will see they get 5 stars for a reason. I'm pretty critical of modern comics because their plots are predictable and they tend to emphasize art over plot. And a lot of the work Marvel and DC has published has been fairly pedestrian and predictable despite their claims otherwise. However, Hickman's work on the Fantastic Four is the best I've read in decades.Unfortunately, I feel comic snobs will snub this title because it is a Marvel/DC mainstream work but it's truly some of the most creative stories I've read regardless of the publisherHickman is the best writer I've ever read on Fanstic Four including Byrne. It truly makes Fantastic Four a legitimate science fiction work that truly expands upon ideas and makes you think in ways you haven't. It's truly well thought out and brilliant work. I read the reviews and was skeptical and have found myself addicted to his work on the Fantastic Four. I implore you to collect the entire Hickman work on FF.One criticism of this volume that is erroneous at best is the summary at the end of chapters. It's done that way for a reason because they expand upon these plots in the later volumes and ties in nicely to this volume. At first I was critical of that as well until I read the later volumes and then you understand where Hickman was going with that.

The Fantastic Four deal with the Wizard, the Council of Reeds, Nu-Earth, and Franklin Richards' birthday...There was a time in my life when the Fantastic Four was undisputedly my favorite comic. I must have been a subscriber for six or seven years. Aside from reading Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus - Volume 1 and Fantastic Four: 1234, this is my first foray into the FF's adventures in a decade or more.The book starts off a little slow. The Wizard-centric story at the beginning didn't knock my unstable molecule-made socks off, but it did introduce the young Wizard clone, Bentley. The second story, however, kicks things into high gear. I love the concept of the Council of Reeds, Reed Richards from various space-time continuums that team up and solve all the world's problems. It's a great story, too. The third story takes place in parallel with the second, a vacation for Johnny and The Thing to Nu-World that goes bad. The fourth story, Franklin's birthday, has its share of poignant moments. The art was pretty good. When did the Fantastic Four start wearing short sleeves?My only gripes with this book have to do with pacing. Not a hell of a lot actually happened. It was the complete opposite of the last omnibus I read, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Vol. 1: War of the Monsters. While I don't expect a slugfest per page, I felt like this volume was all setup for future tales.

This is exactly how I imagine Reed Richards and is the reason why he is my favorite superhero and they are my favorite group.

I'm one of the few that actually enjoys the Fantastic Four movies. I did not see the one from the 90s that was never released, only the Tim Story ones and the recent Josh Trank version that just came out. The latest one that just came out was a good story, even if there was only skit 20 minutes of action. The action was exciting though and the actors did a good job. However, after reading this comic, I think to myself, why isn't more of this in the movies? Fantastic Four: Solve Everything was awesome! So much science fiction about different realms and the infinity gauntlet! The artwork was cool too, particularly the page with Galactus and Silver Surfer. I would love to read more of these and other Fantastic Four stories. I highly recommend this series

The first issues are a story arc and have great art by Dale Eaglesham. I liked it. Reed Richards finds an interdimensional council ran by multiple copies of himself that is solving the problems of the multiverse which is great setup but it ends pretty abruptly. I hope it'll be back later at some point. The next issue is probably a continuation of some earlier arc and the last one has a different artist who is mediocre at best but sets up the future events.

What would you give to solve all the problems in the world? would you dare to give everything? This is the center of this story. Hickman's plots are in a way a kind of detective stories so giving you more details could kill you the joy of reading it for first time. Enough to say that perhaps from here (or from a villain?) it was drawn the inspiration for an important detail in the Rick & Morty cartoon.Jonathan Hickman was not a name I knew because a hiatus of reading comics, I am very glad to have discovered him. I got his work in paper for Ultimates, Ultimate Thor and Secret Warriors in which he assambles pieces of heroism and events till reach an exhausting climax. Also I got for Kindle his Secret Wars but I have to confess I didn't like it much. But anyway, his run in Fantastic Four is famous so I got this first volume and definitively is amazing. 👌

Jon Hickman is one of the best at what he does. This book has the big fantastic story that Hickman likes to tell but also has great character development. Sometimes Hickman seems to get lost in the epic and forgets to develop the characters inside the story. This was not the case here.

Hickman brought the titular family of the fantastic into the 21st century and didn't make me feel like (as an older fan) the greatest comic mag of them all left all of it's old fans behind. These aren't retreads of old classics, but Hickman pushed barriers and made these character feel vital and new again.